Today, Nov 7th, we saw the finals for the 2015 StarCraft II World Championship Series. Things eventually dwindled down to the two surviving super stars: Life and sOs.
Lee “Life” Seung Hyun (currently playing for KT Rolster) came from nowhere back in 2011, the youngest professional Starcraft II player out of South Korea, and caught a lot of attention for his proficient playing in juxtaposition with his age. Life today is only 18 years old. Known for his aggressively tenacious gameplay with Zerg, and pulling great offense out of virtually thin air, this year was Life’s third year playing in the Starcraft II WCS, and his first year defending his hard earned 2014 title as champion.
Kim “sOs” Yoo Jin (aka, $O$ after sweeping the $100,000 winners purse back in the 2013 WCS), plays for the Jin Air Green Wings. He crawled his way to the finals today to take his title back by force. sOs is also from South Korea where he saw much success playing Protoss.
(Above: Life pulling off his fanciest moves, trying to cling to his best position in the game)
After a grueling 7 round match where it appeared to be anyone’s win–the victories in each round going alternatively sOs, Life, Sos, Life….until finally, the pattern concluded with sOs, the Million Dollar Man, on top. sOs’s WCS victory today put him down in Starcraft II history as it is his second WCS championship for the Heart of the Swarm expansion–also crowning him the last HotS victor, as the next Starcraft II expansion, Legacy of the Void, launches later next week on Nov 10th.
In order to meet Life in the finals, sOs had to bite the bullet and commit a team kill, eliminating his fellow Jin Air teammate, Rogue, in the semifinals earlier today which he dominated 3-0 in a Protoss vs Zerg match (perhaps foreshadowing for his later victory over Zerg-favoring Life).
This marks sOs’s third $100,000 win in his professional Starcraft II career. However, when asked for a statement, sOs remained very humble, stating “…everyone’s goal is to win Blizzcon,” and continued modestly that he took it “game by game…step by step.”
Congrats to sOs!